


devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes

by animmortalist



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Con Artists, F/M, Fluff, bellamy and gabriel are the marks, but it's light, clarke and josie are on the job, oop they fall for them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:22:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25859659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animmortalist/pseuds/animmortalist
Summary: Josephine and Clarke see Gabriel and Bellamy as just one more mark in their long list of victims as their lives of con artists living in the moment. But then everything goes to hell when the worst thing imaginable happens. Theylikethem.or: Con Artist!Josie and Clarke AU I just had to write for @shaeheda
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Josephine Lightbourne/Gabriel Santiago | Xavier
Comments: 8
Kudos: 49





	devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shaeheda](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaeheda/gifts).



> hello, loves!! I've been meaning to repost this one for a while, so figured...why not? anyways, I hope you enjoy this fun little story. 
> 
> note: this is a reposted work from when I had my old account and then deleted, so if it feels familiar, that's why. 
> 
> *title is from 'Cruel Summer' by Taylor Swift*
> 
> sending love and good thoughts to you all 💞💞💞

Josephine was fucking late, and Clarke was going to kill her. 

They had been very clear when making the plan. She was supposed to go in, get the intel about these apparent clowns, Garbriel and Bellamy, and get the hell out. Of course, because it was a boutique on the Upper West Side, her partner had chosen that moment to shop. Crossing her arms over her chest, she glared at the other blonde as Josephine walked out of the store, multiple bags slung along her arms, grinning widely behind a pair of designer sunglasses. 

Said sunglasses had been purchased after they’d charmed a pair of middle-aged billionaires that they’d been the long lost cousins of the Lightbourne family. The physical similarities helped them con their way into the inner family. And with it, a healthy sum in their bank accounts which they’d used to escape their estate in Monaco in the middle of the night. 

“Seriously?” Clarke asked as they made their way down the street. “What happened to the plan?”

Josie snorted. “And what happened to your sense of spontaneity?” 

Clarke quipped, “You call it spontaneity. I call it unprofessional.”

The other woman gave her an exaggerated pout. “Please, you love it. Besides, I keep things fresh. Without my flair for the improvisation, you’d be dying of boredom.”

At that, she raised a brow and replied, “How could I ever be bored when I’m always busy covering your ass?”

Josephine gave a far-too delighted laugh and asked, way too innocently, “Don’t you wanna hear what I now know about our boys?”

For a moment, Clarke feigned dismissiveness, pretending she wasn’t dying to know what her partner had discovered. Granted, she could be sure the intel was good (Josephine never did fail, after all) but she didn’t want to give the other the satisfaction. Eventually, though, she gave in.

“Fine,” she dragged out. “Tell me what we’re dealing with.” Her partner was grinning so much Clarke rolled her eyes. “For fuck’s sake, Josie, just tell me.”

“They broke up.”

She decided to play along, knowing she’d only get the answers she wanted if she did. “Who?”

“Bellamy and Echo,” she said around a smirk.

“Am I supposed to care about that?” Clarke asked, her tone flat, even though she knew Bellamy was meant to be her mark for the next job.

“Of course, you are,” Josephine huffed. “He’s yours, remember?” 

That made Clarke roll her eyes and shake her head, but she kept on, “That sweet shop girl Maya practically gave me his entire life story. Heroic big brother raises his little sister when his mom works the night shift and dead-end job after dead-end job, gets disgustingly rich off a start-up with his best friend from high school, built like a Greek god.” 

The last bit warranted a wink from her and she added, “Gabriel is, too. I mean...This man? There are barely words to describe. Apparently, he’s a bit of a bachelor, but we’ll see how long that lasts once he meets me. Seriously, Maya showed me a picture of the two of them, a candid, so not one of the professionally done ones we’ve already seen, and _damn._ We’re moving up in the world.”

“Why don’t you shout it for the whole freaking city to hear,” Clarke snarked back, looking around them, a slight paranoia setting in.

Josie just waved her off. “Please, like we’re the only con artistes in town.”

“Must you call us that?” Clarke asked, shaking her head.

“It sounds fancier with the ‘e,’” Josephine responded with a shrug. 

Clarke swallowed down her words of protest. Sometimes, it was better to just ride the wave of her best friend and years-long partner out. “Whatever, just give me the information you got about the two of them, and which persona would work best when I run into him.”

“You take all of the fun out of things, you know that?” Josephine proposed.

Clarke grinned. “I thought that’s what I had you for.”

“Touché. Okay, so he’s successful obviously, and newly single, and apparently his little sister is just continuously pestering him to get out and meet someone new since his latest break-up with this model Echo and…” As she trailed off, Clarke took various mental notes about this Bellamy Blake.

Out of all of her previous marks, he seemed like one of the better ones. Maybe one she wouldn’t actually be grossed out by every time he touched her or make smarmy remarks that made her have to suppress the desire to kick him in the shin. It almost made her feel bad that she was going to take him for a ride and get a sweet payout in the process. Except if life had taught her anything, it was that no one was wholly good. He probably had some secrets Josie hadn’t managed to get out just from chatting up a girl that worked in a boutique. Secrets that would make Clarke thankful he was a mark and nothing more. Even as a clearer picture formed about the kind of person he was, she didn’t allow herself to think that he could actually be genuine. When it came to it, everyone wore a mask. Clarke just liked to think hers at least came with a monetary benefit. 

* * *

Clarke ‘met’ Bellamy accidentally on purpose at the coffee shop he frequented every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and sometimes, Thursday, too. 

She arranged the perfect scenario for them to get to talk. Josie had called her cliché but Clarke had argued that she couldn’t meet Bellamy at a marathon for a charity like she was doing with Gabriel. One, she didn’t run, and two, she didn’t think Bellamy was the type to run either. 

Instead, she scoped out the coffee shop, just doing some light investigating on Monday, and waiting to make her move. She was relieved when he showed up right on time on Tuesday. Though really, she shouldn’t have been surprised. From what she’d gathered about Bellamy, he was the punctual type. Which she thought was a tad much, seriously, was this guy thirty or sixty-five? She wasn’t sure. 

Taking a chance, she stood just as he went over to pick up his Cafe au Lait, and bumped into him, making it appear as if he ‘accidentally’ caused her to spill her Americano. The cup shattered on the exposed industrial floor and they both cursed. She didn’t have the dedication to ruin the leather pants and designer blouse she was wearing. She had limits, after all. 

“Shit, I’m so sorry,” he exclaimed, bending to help clean up the broken cup as a barista came over with a broom. 

Clarke took note of the way he insisted on helping mop up the coffee, even when the barista said it was fine. So, he was the helper, do-gooder type. She’d encountered them before. Maybe she’d play a little damsel in distress, let him be the hero. Something told her he didn’t _need_ to be a white knight, like a past mark, Finn Collins, but that he might genuinely just like helping others, without expecting much in return. The barista knew him by name, and there was a familiarity there. Even though Bellamy’s face had recently been named one of _Times’ People of the Year,_ he treated the guy as if they were coworkers or even friends. All of this would be useful to her as she convinced him she was his dream girl. Meanwhile, his adorable dog, a mutt she later learned was named Artemis scurried around their legs.

“It’s alright, really,” she told him, offering her brightest and breeziest of smiles. Because that was the type of woman Bellamy liked, according to the information she’d gathered. Light and easy and sweet but not too sweet, a delicate balance to strike. 

Bellamy offered to buy her a new one, as she’d expected, and they settled down at his table. 

“Bellamy Blake,” he introduced himself and extended a hand. She tried to hide her grin as she shook it. She couldn’t believe that he’d given her his full name when she hadn’t even given her first one. Trusting, too, it seemed. This would be far too easy.

It registered on his face after a moment and he added, “Oh, god, please don’t tell me you’re gonna stalk me now that you know my last name.” 

Damn, if only he knew, she thought.

Instead, though, she sipped at her coffee and said, “I’m Clarke. And what makes you think you’re worthy of stalking?” 

Bellamy laughed at that, so openly it took her a moment to regain her thoughts. She’d had all kinds of marks before, but she sensed, even during that first meeting, that perhaps she had never had one quite like Bellamy before. 

He was easy to talk to, which was a little unnerving to her. Normally, the ones she went for were the awkward ones, while Josephine had the more social marks, since they wouldn’t be too intimidated by the fire she brought, no matter which persona she presented. Somehow, strangely enough, Clarke found herself falling into more of herself than she normally allowed when on the job.

“What brings you to the city?” he asked.

Normally, she’d come up with a simple enough lie, something she wouldn’t hesitate to give. This time though, she didn’t, and ended up telling him, “New job opportunity, I guess.”

He pressed further though, but not because she sensed he didn’t believe her. It was something even better and yet made her feel worse. He was actually interested. 

“Anything more specific than that?”

“How about you offer up more of why _you’re_ in the city before I give you the full sob story?” she proposed, and while it took a little more encouragement, he did open up about himself. 

He laughed and allowed it. “Fair enough.” Then he scrunched up his nose in a way that was far too adorable for his own good. “Though I guess it’s not one-hundred-percent dickish of me to assume you might’ve at least heard of me? I would give you the whole start-up spiel, but honestly, most people don’t want to hear about how we’re reinvigorating technology in public schools in the city.”

This was the ticket. She knew from the few interviews he’d given (which, really, she’d only been able to find five in the eight years he’d been running his company with Gabriel—she got the sense Gabriel was more comfortable being the face of the company) that he was incredibly interested in his work, but didn’t think many others were. 

“Please, give me the spiel,” she said. “I did a lot of volunteer work for schools when I was back in L.A. and would love to hear all about it.”

“Really?” he asked.

“Of course...Also, I should probably admit, I should’ve recognized you right away, but definitely failed at that.” She flashed a sheepish smile, and he seemed to buy it. 

“Okay, well...I don’t know how much you know about what we’re doing, but basically, Gabriel does the science and math stuff and I do English and history. We’re trying to really work with the teachers, you know? Make things better for the kids and…” He trailed off and she did all of the proper indicators to let him know she was absolutely _fascinated_ by what he was saying. 

She really did listen, too, because this information would be useful later. She tucked away all the things he told her, especially the things he didn’t realize he was telling her. The fondness with which he spoke of the students, the way she didn’t doubt he and Gabriel’s friendship would withstand anything, the slight tick of his jaw when he mentioned his sister before trying to cover it up with a sweet antidote about her. 

“I understand if you don’t want to but…” He turned a little nervous, even though they’d been talking for almost two hours. “You wanna grab a drink this weekend?”

“Will you bring Artemis?” she asked, and god, the smile he gave her.

She _so_ had him. 

They parted a little after that since he had a meeting and she said she had to get to the office where she worked for a nonprofit that helped with women’s access to healthcare across the city. As she made her way back to her and Josephine’s place, she thought fondly of her morning. Not a bad day at work at all. 

Bellamy clearly liked her, which would make her whole job so much easier. Clarke told herself that this detail was all she cared about. Just getting her money as efficiently and with as little problems as possible. Not the fact that maybe, she might’ve actually thought he was a decent person, despite all her past experiences that told her not to be. 

* * *

Over Thai food and episodes of _Ozark_ _,_ Clarke didn’t have to bring up Bellamy. Josephine did that for her. 

“Gabriel’s a really good kisser,” she commented. “Enthusiastic but not like, drilling into my mouth, you know?” She smirked at something that happened during the episode before she asked, “How’s Bellamy?” 

Clarke played nonchalant, not wanting to draw attention to her answer. “We haven’t done anything yet.”

“ _What?_ ” Josephine demanded. 

“All we’ve done is have coffee and one drink,” she defended. “It’s perfectly acceptable.”

“If it was the eighteen hundreds, maybe,” she replied. “Seriously, I’ve never seen you hesitate with a mark before.” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you dating someone? Because the last time you didn’t go for seduction full force was when you met Lexa.”

“I haven’t met anyone,” she said a little stiffly. “I told you after Lexa and me broke up that I was giving up on that whole thing. It’s too much of a mindfuck to separate work and personal stuff.”

“Still,” Josephine argued, “I wouldn’t put you above changing your rules if you met someone you really liked. Is it that Niylah chick you banged a little while ago?” She poked at her food, not waiting for an answer. “If you wanna bail on your part of the job, I can probably pull it off on my own.”

Clarke let out a breath. “I’m not flaking on you. This one’s an important one, and I’m not gonna leave you to do it by yourself.” She offered a smirk. “Knowing you, you’d probably fuck it all up like Mount Weather.”

Josephine scoffed but there was a lightness in her tone when she exclaimed, “Take that back!”

“I’m sorry, but even _you_ make mistakes.”

She sniffed. “Never. I don’t know what you’re referring to.” Clarke snorted and Josephine fired back, “Oh, shall I bring up the Roan Situation?”

Clarke narrowed her eyes into a glare. “We promised to never speak of that again.”

Josie feigned innocence. “And yet, you bring up Mount Weather.”

Clarke raised her hands in surrender. “Fine. Maybe we’ve both fucked up…More than once.”

Josephine laughed heartedly, her voice wistful as she said, “Ah, the places we’ve been, the people we’ve screwed. Both metaphorically and physically.” She winked at that and Clarke burst out laughing. 

“The things we do for Sephora binges,” she told her. 

For a while, they reminisced, going back and forth with stories of the past. Thinking fondly about the jobs that had gone to shit. Clarke was grateful for it. She didn’t want to think about _why_ she hadn’t made a move on Bellamy. 

What made things worse, was that she could tell he’d wanted to kiss her after they got drinks. It had been her that put on the brakes in their development. Even if Josephine demanded to know more from her, she didn’t think she’d have a satisfying answer. 

None of that mattered though, she’d meant what she’d said to her partner. She wouldn’t bail on her, even if things might’ve been a bit more complicated than she initially thought. 

* * *

In the weeks and then eventual months that followed, Clarke got used to being Bellamy’s girlfriend. All the while, she told herself she most definitely wasn’t enjoying it more than she should’ve—no more than was appropriate for someone who was manipulating him and then planning to skip town before she had to deal with the consequences. 

She kept looking for warning signs, for reasons why he was still single or secrets she could use to her advantage in case she got in a situation where blackmail was needed. It didn’t work though. She came up empty. Sure, he had faults. He was irritable sometimes or wouldn’t tell her the full truth, even when she asked for it with others. Bellamy really didn’t like discussing his mom or life really before he and Gabriel moved from their hometown to the city. He was fiercely loyal, too, maybe too much. They had their first fight when she’d questioned Gabriel’s intentions with a new deal for an investor for the company. But he called and apologized for it the next day, which she was relieved for. 

Clarke told herself the relief was completely having to do with keeping the job going, and nothing to do with seeing him a couple of times a week, and how he could make her mood instantly better. 

They took Artemis for walks in the park and eventually, Gabriel ‘introduced’ her to Josephine, who she pretended she had never met before but got along with almost instantly. 

Things would’ve been great if it wasn’t for the damn breakfast where she met Octavia. Bellamy was nervous since his sister had only like his high school sweetheart Gina, and his partners were often intimidated by her. Clarke held her ground though, and that wasn’t the part that gave her pause. Instead, it was what Octavia made her realize. 

While Bellamy was in the bathroom, she leaned over real close and stared at her for a moment. Clarke didn’t back down, which seemed to please her. 

Finally, she said, “There’s something I don’t completely trust about you.” 

Clarke raised a brow and played along. “Well, I’m obviously a serial killer.”

Octavia smiled, just the smallest bit. “ _Obviously._ But seriously, there’s something I’m not buying about your whole ‘Nice but Kickass Family Girl from the West Coast Who Uses Her Money and Privilege for Good’.” 

Clarke swallowed and maintained her innocence. She had experienced close calls before, and knew how to handle them just fine. “Is that so? And who do you think I really am?”

Octavia waved a hand. “Everyone’s got shit, so I haven’t spent much time thinking about what you’re hiding. I just know you’re hiding _something._ But…” To Clarke’s surprise, she shrugged. “My brother is crazy about you, which I’m sure you know.” Then she grinned. “But what convinces me more that you won’t totally ruin this or him is that you’re just as bad.”

She let out a nervous laugh and blinked rapidly to hide her shock. “Am I that obvious?” Clarke had never imagined she’d fall for a mark, but as Octavia’s words registered, she couldn’t deny there was some truth to them. 

“Definitely,” she replied. “You should see the stupid look on your face every time he talks about something so boring it could put me to sleep.”

Unfortunately and yet simultaneously for the best, there wasn’t time for Clarke to unpack all of that, because Bellamy came back to their table and they fell back into discussing Clarke’s fake job.

It wasn’t supposed to happen, not to people like her and Josephine. She didn’t fuck up this bad. The more Octavia smiled at her in that knowing way though, the more she knew: she had failed the number one rule of her line of work. 

Don’t fall for the mark. Ever. 

Later that night, she told Josephine everything, fearing the other would feel betrayed or upset, but instead, she swallowed thickly and let out a slow breath. 

“Guess we’re in this together then,” she said. 

Clarke frowned. “What do you mean?”

Josie took her time, making an almost disgusted face before she got out, “I think I... _Like_ Gabriel.”

The words stunned Clarke, and she shook her head in disbelief. “How?”

“Don’t you think I’ve been asking myself that?” she demanded, gesturing a little violently with her wine. She sighed. “I can’t believe this is happening. To us. I mean, I thought we were above this?”

That she could relate to. “What do we do?”

Her friend considered this for a while and took a long sip from her glass. “We do what we set out to do from the beginning. Just move the plan up. We get our money, and we get out.” She looked somber as she added, “It’s...It’s gonna fucking hurt, which I hate but...What other choice do we have?”

She really did seem to be asking, almost begging. As if Clarke had the answer. She didn’t think there was one, at least, not one that let this end in anything but a tragedy for all of them. So, she agreed. If she was going to shatter her own heart, the least she could do is get paid for it. 

* * *

Josephine and Clarke both planned to get one last sum of money from Bellamy and Gabriel, and then they’d be gone. Their feelings threatened to ruin everything, and they knew they needed money before they disappeared. Enough for the two of them to live off of until they found their next marks. It wasn’t anything they hadn’t done before, and yet, as she made her way to Bellamy’s place in Brooklyn, she was consumed with something like dread. 

She let herself in with the spare key Bellamy practically had to force upon her (for emergencies, he’d said) and found him cooking. 

“Hey,” he greeted, smiling so brightly at her she had to look away to hide the slight blush it placed on her cheeks. 

“How was that meeting with Roosevelt Elementary?” she asked inspecting the contents of the pot he was stirring. 

He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and kissed her softly. Normally, Bellamy’s kisses were nice. But this time, she felt almost sick. “Good. I think we’re really making a difference.”

She forced a smile. “That’s amazing. I swear you’re gonna change the world or something one day.”

He snorted. “Highly unlikely.”

She shook her head and grinned, letting herself be lost in the moment of the two of them being together. If she was going to lose him tonight, then she would at least try to enjoy what little pieces she had left. Then he gave her this look where his eyes shined and in all of their months together, he’d never looked at her quite like that. 

“I love you, you know that, right?” They held eye contact for a moment before he looked away as if embarrassed. 

Clarke didn’t know what to do or say or how to react. She told herself that she was meant to say it back. That she was supposed to encourage him of the story she’d been selling for months. Whatever she had to do to get her payout. But when she opened her mouth, none of those words came. Instead, she burned it all down, unable to keep it up any longer. Not when she knew, deep down, she loved him, too. 

“I’m playing you.” She let out a shaky breath. “I’m not from a good family from the suburbs of L.A. I’m a con artist and I’ve been using you. Have been for months. I don’t...I couldn’t lie anymore,” she got out and when confusion and then realization made his features crumble into betrayal and anger and hurt, she felt her throat close up. 

He took a step back and looked at her as if she was a stranger, and she supposed, in all the ways that mattered, she was. “What are you talking about?”

She swallowed and carefully explained the entire story. Everything from how she had selected him carefully to be her next mark, another in the long list of many, to fabricating a whole life so he would believe who she was. She told him everything. Or as much as everything as she could muster. She chose to leave Josie out of it, unable to doom her to her own fate. When she was done, he was pissed and she felt hollow. 

When he finally did speak, it wasn’t at all what she anticipated. “Why tell me? Why not just get your money and take off?” 

This was the most difficult part, the one that would ruin her. Because she had to admit to herself why she hadn’t. 

“Because…” she trailed off. “Because it’s real for me, now. In a way that it never has been before. I know it’s wrong of me to say, and that I don’t even deserve it, but I care about you, Bellamy. I really, really care about you.”

He didn’t say anything for a while, but then shook his head. “I think you should go.”

She nodded. “Okay, yeah. That’s...I’ll go.”

Before she left though, he said, “Clarke, wait.”

She turned and frowned, expecting at least some insults or a biting remark. “Yeah?”

“For the record, the part that I think was real,” he sighed, “not that I’m all that sure if any of it was, but...I guess I want you to know that I think you can be better than this, for the record.”

She swallowed. “Thank you, but I’m not sure that’s true. But...It means a lot, that you think that.” She smiled sadly and pushed back the tears that threatened to spill. “Goodbye Bellamy.”

He looked nearly as pathetic as she felt, which made her feel even worse about everything, which made her question who the hell she’d even become. “Bye, Clarke.”

When she got back to the apartment, Josephine was watching a cheesy romcom, which meant the apocalypse had happened. There was a tub of ice cream in her lap and a bottle of wine on the coffee table. Her friend looked over at her, mascara streaked and eyes puffy. 

“You told him?” Clarke guessed.

She nodded. “You told him too, huh?”

“Yeah...Fuck,” she spat. “Falling in love is shit.”

“Complete shit,” Josie agreed, and then padded the seat on the couch beside her. Clarke settled in and took a long drink of wine, straight from the bottle. 

Clarke didn’t realize how far she’d fallen for Bellamy until she lost him, and now, she would never see him again. It broke her heart, but she told herself as she and Josie cried into their ice cream that they would get through it. They would become different people. Maybe not good ones, but...She would try because, in spite of all that she’d done to him, Bellamy’s last words to her resonated. He believed she could be better. Now, she had to believe in herself, and Josephine, too.

* * *

Almost six months later, Clarke and Josephine were gonna kill their coworker Kaylee. They were waitressing at an Irish pub downtown, and every day brought new aches and pains and challenges. They missed the money and the glamor and the excitement of their old way of life. A fucking lot. 

“It’s like I lost a limb,” Josephine admitted one night when they first started their new jobs and Clarke couldn’t have agreed more. 

They were walking home from their shift, looking like utter shit in their black uniforms with shamrocks on the front pockets of their shirts. Hair pulled into greasy ponytails. They were both smoking the cheapest brand of cigarettes. Plans had already been made to go to a local dive bar and drink cheap beer until they didn’t feel their sore feet anymore. 

“I swear, I’m gonna stab _Lee Lee_ with a fork,” Josie continued her tirade about the waitress who tried to boss Clarke and her around even though they all were on the same level. 

Clarke snorted. “Cute.”

The other grinned. “It will be because when I do it, the rest of us will finally be free. I’m surprised Ryker’s lasted as long as he has without our charming remarks to get him through the shift.”

“I’m not helping you with the body,” she responded. 

“Please,” Josephine let out, rolling her eyes in the most exaggerated of fashions. “You definitely would. You hate her just as much as me.”

Clarke opened her mouth to protest, but in the end, she admitted, “You might have the smallest bit of a point.”

“Ha!” Josephine extended her arms and did a bit of a shuffle down the street, earning a glare from a passing pedestrian. She shot one back before turning back to Clarke. “Thank you for acknowledging that my eventual one-off murder is valid.”

She barked out of a laugh. “I didn’t say that.”

But Josephine was still doing her little dance down to the street to a chorus of, “I’m right!” and “Lee Lee is over party!” and a bunch of other horrible things that probably made zero sense to anyone in their vicinity. Clarke was so distracted by both laughing and scoffing at the ridiculousness of it, she didn’t notice the two men standing on the sidewalk, holding back laughter as they watched them. Not until Josephine ran right into Gabriel.

“Oh, _fuck,_ ” she spat out and Clarke saw her eyes go wide as she paused her movements. She felt herself freeze where she stood, the smile falling off her face. 

“Hi,” Gabriel said around a wide smirk. 

Clarke kicked at a pebble and looked from Gabriel to an amused Bellamy back to Gabriel again. 

Clarke played it cool. “‘Sup?”

Josephine shot her a look and mouthed ‘sup?’ accusingly at her as if she took personal offense to it. 

They were both dressed in well-tailored suits, appearing the opposite of the two of them. Clarke stubbed out her cigarette onto the pavement with her sneaker. Bellamy hadn’t known she’d smoked. That detail hadn’t gone along with the version of herself she’d presented. 

Bellamy and Gabriel exchanged a loaded look.

“Care to take a break from disturbing the peace for a second?” Gabriel asked Josie.

It was a rare occurrence for her friend to be shocked by people, and she had never seen her stutter before, but she did then. Eventually, she just nodded. Josephine shot her a look over her shoulder as she and Gabriel started walking down the street and Clarke gave her the most encouraging nod she could muster. There was her own mess of fear and worry to consider as Bellamy stuck his hands in his pockets and walked over to where she was still petrified, having not moved from her spot on the sidewalk. 

“Hey,” she started. “I get it if you don’t want to talk to me, you know...Just because Gabriel wants to talk to Josie doesn’t mean I think you can ever forgive me for what I did.”

He considered her words, and for a second, she really believed he wasn’t going to say anything at all. Instead, though, he nodded. 

“I’ve thought about this moment, you know? What I would do if I saw you again…” He shook his head and smiled a bit. “I’ve gotta say, there were a lot of colorful insults in my imagination of it.”

She chewed her lip. “That’s more than fair. I understand if you wanna make that a reality.”

He huffed. “Here’s the thing though, standing here, looking at you, I can’t bring myself to do it.”

Brow furrowing, she couldn’t help but ask, “Why?”

Shrugging, he told her he wasn’t sure. But, “I do know that despite it all...I mean, you said that it became real for you, at some point.”

Clarke could imagine where he was going with this but was terrified to let herself really believe it. “I did.”

There was hesitation in his eyes when he asked, “You still mean it?” 

She didn’t pause, knowing how she felt then, how she still felt now, and nodded. “Yes.”

“Okay,” he breathed out. Then he extended his hand. “I’m Bellamy.”

She frowned, unsure of what he was doing for a moment before she realized. She let out a laugh and took his hand in hers. 

“Clarke. Clarke Griffin. I’m twenty-five. Single. Incredible beer selector and a horrible cook.” He grinned, just a bit, and she kept going, “I have killed cacti before. I have a small addiction to shopping, especially coats and jackets. Oh, and shoes, too. I haven’t spoken to my mother since I was eighteen, and I became a con artist when I got fired from being a temp at an office that sold printers.” She worked her jaw. “I live in a horrendous studio apartment with Josephine in the only shit part of Brooklyn left, and I wear this everyday,” she gestured to herself, “I’m a real gold star.”

He nearly threw back his head and laughed, and Clarke had never felt more exposed in her life. Still, she didn’t think she’d ever been more relieved either. 

“Yeah, you’re a winner,” he said.

She shot back, “Ass.”

He bit his lip, as if he was in disbelief by his own actions. “I’m pretty sure I’ve lost it, but...Fuck, I would really like to get to know you, Clarke Griffin.”

“Yeah?” The shock and joy was all too apparent in her voice. 

He nodded. “Unfortunately.”

“So...You wanna grab a drink?” she asked. 

“So sudden,” he teased.

“Yeah, well,” she inclined her head towards Josephine and Gabriel, who were making out next to a pretzel stand. “I think it’s the only way we’ll get those two to not get arrested for indecent exposure on the street.”

He made a disgusted face and then called out to the two of them, “Gabriel, we have a reputation to maintain!”

The two of them broke apart and Gabriel slung an arm across Josephine’s shoulders. “You only live once, dude. Kiss the hot con artist and live in the moment and all that bullshit.”

Clarke rolled her eyes and bumped her hip against Bellamy’s side as they started towards the dive bar the two men had never even heard of. Josephine strutted over to the two of them and gestured for Bellamy to go walk beside Gabriel. 

She grinned at her and Clarke returned it. 

“So,” Josephine said, “how long until we can turn this foursome into the best con group the world’s ever seen.”

Clarke snarked, “Funny you think Bellamy and I haven’t already planned our first job.”

Josie feigned hurt and let out a gasp. “How _dare_ you.”

“Don’t worry,” she assured her. “I have a feeling that these two know they’re getting a joint pair. And honestly, I’m more worried about them than us.”

“God, we’re gonna be insufferable,” Josephine said, but there was such fondness and perhaps a little too much excitement in her tone that Clarke knew she couldn’t wait. 

When Bellamy looked over his shoulder and grinned at her, there was no denying it. She couldn’t wait for it, either. 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading ❤︎
> 
> find me on tumblr (@animmortalist)


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